Below is the entire course agenda for the spring 2009 semester. (It looks like a lot, but remember, it's spread out over 14 weeks. Each week we meet to hopefully learn something new that we can use in the classroom and there is an assignment for the following week.)
Session 14: 4/20/09 This week on Skype: Review final assignments. Instructor/Course Evaluation and Course Wrap-up
Session 13: 4/13/09 This week on Skype:
Short meeting to discuss any issues with final assignment
Session 12: 4/6/09 This week on Skype:
Review Movie Projects (if necessary) and Concept Map Activities.
Final Assignment: participants will research at least one Web 2.0 resource, which we have not covered in this course, become an “expert” on that resource, and prepare to present it to the class. What can we do with it in class? What are some specific examples of applications? Does it allow students to work collaboratively? Each participant should become so knowledgeable about the resource that he or she can answer questions asked by other participants. Also, the participant must show a direct application for their specific teaching situation by creating a sample project using the resource and posting the sample project on their website. The sample project would be an exemplar to provide the students with. In addition to the exemplar, the participant must create the directions or guide that they will provide the students with. (Approximately 3.5 Hours)
Session 11: 3/30/09 This week on Skype:
Review finished Movie Projects together (provided all are done; if not, this will wait until next week)
Participants download a free trial version of a program if needed. (If you have Inspiration, that will suit our needs; if not, you can download a free trial version. (In the future, if you are interested in having students work collaboratively on concept maps, you may want to use one of the free open source apps found at the "mind" mapping link above.)
Try out the program features and discuss possible activity ideas for your class
Assignment for next week: Generate a concept map activity for your class.There are many possibilities. I suggest either fill-in or matching where you provide all necessary info, or exploratory where students gather and insert images, text, ideas, etc.
Session 10: 3/23/09 This Week on Elluminate:
Tonight we will continue work on our sample movie projects. I will be assisting participants in the final stages of movie editing.
There is no new assignment, but completed samples are due: embedded on your website by 3/30/09
Session 9: 3/16/09
Review Movie Project Ideas and remediate if necessary.
Demonstrate editing techniques: changing clip duration, adding audio and editing audio, transitions, title slides, etc.
Movie Editing Assignment: Participants finish collecting resources for the sample movie: images, video, information and begin the process of editing the sample movie.
Assignment for next week: Prior to session 10, participants will continue editing their sample movies. The completed movie project is due in 2 weeks (3/30/09)Here is a link to some features of Windows Movie maker.
Session 8: 3/9/09 This Week on Elluminate:
Review Teacher Website Part 4 Assignments and remediate within groups if necessary.
Movie Editing Assignment: Windows Movie Maker and iPhoto/iMovie are discussed as tools for editing movie projects.
Examples of effective movie projects will be shared.
Participants consider where a student-generated movie project would work well within their specific teaching situation and begin to develop that movie project by creating a sample themselves.
Assignment for next week:Part 1 Create a Movie Project Guide (Word document) and post it on your wiki. You may use this as a guide, but make sure the project itself centers around something you would like to have your students do. Note: you are creating the actual document that students will use as they complete the project. As you create a sample movie over the next couple of weeks, you will figure out what changes you need to make to your student project guide. At this point, make sure your project guide is a minimum of 2 pages. Part 2 Sample Movie Storyboard In addition to posting a student project guide on your wiki, you must organize a sample project storyboard and begin collecting images online and/or capturing video using a digital video camera. The storyboard you create for next week should be at least 1 page in length. (Generally storyboard pages have at least 9 frames, like this)
Beginning next week, we will be working on movie projects: namely generating project ideas for students and learning how to create an exemplar for your students. Therefore, you need to make sure that you have access to some kind of movie editing program like iMovie or Windows Movie Maker. I'm sure there are many more and you may even be able to find some kind of open source application as well. However, I really only have experience with iMovie and Windows MM. So if you decide to use some other app, you will need to learn the functions on your own.
Participants demonstrate their website work for the past week (adding resources) by sharing their desktop on Elluminate. Together, we'll compare the work done to the website part 3 document. We can also try to answer questions participants have about editing and adding resources.
Intro to Website Assignment Part 4: Adding Multimedia [[file/view/Teacher Website Part 4.doc|Teacher Website Part 4.doc]]. Pictures, video and music can be effective add-ons to your new teacher website. (See my website, portfolio page, etc.) Tonight I'll show you how to add a video from your computer (my desktop shared).
School Internet filters sometimes don't like Youtube. Therefore, participants will download an applicable video from Youtube to their desktop using Keepvid and upload that video to their wiki.
And since we know from experience that not all file types are supported by website apps like wikispaces, I'll also give a brief lesson on open source file conversion using Zamzar.
Participants create an account on project playlist, add applicable music and embed the playlist onto their wiki.
Session 6: 2/23/09 This week on Elluminate:
Session participants switch from using wikispaces teacher websites to Moodle as per East Stroudsburg school district policy.
Instructional time for this evening is now being used to set up teacher websites on Moodle.
The assignment for next week is again Teacher Website Assignment Part 3 (Adding Course Resources) [[file/view/Teacher Website Part 3.doc|Teacher Website Part 3.doc]] Use Moodle, and make sure you meet the minimum criteria set forth in this document.
Session 5: 2/16/09 This week on Eluminate:
I will be evaluating 2 assignments by next week: Teacher Website Assignment Parts 1 & 2.
Answer any questions participants have about Teacher Website Part 2 Assignment.
Review Website Part 2 Assignment. Participants share the work they did to their website this past week and re mediate if necessary.
Discuss Teacher Website Assignment Part 3 (Adding Course Resources). [[file/view/Teacher Website Part 3.doc|Teacher Website Part 3.doc]] NOTE: It may take a great deal of time to include ALL applicable course resources within a new teacher website. All electronic documents that you already have may easily be added to your website resources once you know the procedure. However, items that you only have hard copies of need to be scanned or otherwise converted into an electronic version that can be placed on your website. This can be very time consuming now, but pays dividends in the long run as you and your students access these documents repeatedly over time. Just as an example, I regularly get emails from parents, guidance counselors, homebound instructors, etc. requesting work for students who are absent. In those situations, I can send them the link to my class summaries and assignments which link directly to my course resources. Imagine the time and energy that is saved! Additionally, whenever a student asks for notes, worksheet, etc. that are "misplaced" you can send them to the website. This puts the responsibility solely on the student for maintaining organization and getting what they need for themselves. I think you will agree that this is much better than enabling them by handing them an extra copy of what they lost.
During this time, I will show examples of how to add specific course content to a teacher website. I will also help participants to navigate pitfalls such as document awareness and software access. i.e. Maybe class notes should be offered in both PDF and Microsoft Word form. Maybe links to free software downloads should be included in the website.
Session 4: 2/9/09 This week on Elluminate:
Answer any questions participants still have about embedding google documents
Review Teacher Website Part 1 Assignment. Participants will share the link to their own new teacher websites with the group and ensure that the assignment was completed correctly and re mediate if necessary.
Discuss Teacher Website Assignment Part 2 (Overall Organization and Home Page Layout). Planning is a huge part of the development of a good teacher website that will actually get used. After referring back to some good examples of teacher websites, I will get participants thinking about what the overall organization of their own new website will look like. How much and what should be included on the home page? What subpages will be included? Course resources? Homework blog? Also, what features are offered by their web page development software? (Teacherpages, wikispaces, etc)
Here is the file for this weeks assignment: [[file/view/Teacher Website Part 2.doc|Teacher Website Part 2.doc]]
Session 3: 2/2/09 This week on Eluminate:
Review initial wiki setup and remediate as needed.
Inserting HTML code for Google Docs Forms. Review embedded surveys and quizzes and remediate as needed. Participants describe the form they created and how it will be applied to their own unique teaching situation.
Review Google Docs Collaborative assignment and remediate as needed. Participants describe the assignment they created; specifically how it takes advantage of the collaborative power of Google Docs.
Teacher websites: I will show examples of good teacher websites and what can be accomplished by using a teacher website. Use and extent may vary, but a teacher website may be used for parent communication, homework blog, posting class resources, projects completed in class, etc. My 1st teacher website. And since today is Groundhog day, let us take a look at Lori Burkett's website (she's a teacher in Punxsutawney, PA; home of the infamous Phil!)
050202_groundhog_hmed_6a.hmedium.jpg
Teacher Website Assignment Part 1 (Sign Up and Get Started). The assignment for next week is simply to get signed up for a teacher website and to begin to explore the website editing functions. NOTE: Participants can choose to use a website package offered by their school district, wikispaces, or many others.
Session 2: 1/26/09
This week on Elluminate:
Introduction to Elluminate sessions. Here we will spend some time as a class reviewing the Elluminate features and how we will use them throughout the course. Participants should be able to discuss/present some of the features covered during the Eluminate training session. How could this resource be used for distance learning? If you were a homebound instructor, could any, some, most or all of your instruction be delivered online using Eluminate?
Review newly created participant wikispaces. Discuss any editing issues and/or little hurdles you may have encountered as you were setting up your space. Just what do all of those funny looking toolbar buttons actually do?
Review results of our participant survey to see how familiar we already are with using classroom technology. I will also show participants how I created it using Google Docs. Watch a brief Youtube video on Google Docs "In Plain English." Then I will introduce the assignment: they use this application to create a survey or quiz applicable to their specific teaching situation. Here is the assignment document: [[file/view/Google Docs Assignment.doc|Google Docs Assignment.doc]]
Session 1: 1/19/09
Out of Class Work: Prior to the first session participants will sign up for and create a free account [[file/view/Creating a Wikispace Page TechInSecEd.doc|Creating a Wikispace Page TechInSecEd.doc]] and access our course wikispace. Also, participants will research the communication resource tool Skype, sign up for a free account [[file/view/Using Skype.doc|Using Skype.doc]], and perform a test call prior to the first class session.
On Skype:
Introductions and course summary
Wikis, our wikispace and other Web 2.0 tools, (Wiki Video). Essentially, an explanation of what this course is all about. We will go over some of the resources available; especially open-source and other applications that will be used during this course.
Skype, Elluminate and other educational communication tools. Here we will focus for a bit on specific communication tools that may be used in an educational setting; especially those used in this course.
Participant survey. This is a technology familiarity survey which I will create in google docs. All of the participants will complete the survey and the results will be automatically populated to a google spreadsheet. By evaluating the results, I will be able to see how familiar participants are with technology resources.
Sign up for and participate in free Eluminate online training session: Part 1: Getting Started with Eluminate Live! For Moderators
Begin to edit your own new wikispace following this example page as a guide. For next week, all I'm looking for is an intro about you, a picture of you and a section for your assignments.
Session 14: 4/20/09 This week on Skype: Review final assignments. Instructor/Course Evaluation and Course Wrap-up
Session 13: 4/13/09 This week on Skype:
Session 12: 4/6/09 This week on Skype:
Session 11: 3/30/09 This week on Skype:
Session 10: 3/23/09 This Week on Elluminate:
Session 9: 3/16/09
Assignment for next week: Prior to session 10, participants will continue editing their sample movies. The completed movie project is due in 2 weeks (3/30/09) Here is a link to some features of Windows Movie maker.
Session 8: 3/9/09 This Week on Elluminate:
Assignment for next week: Part 1 Create a Movie Project Guide (Word document) and post it on your wiki. You may use this as a guide, but make sure the project itself centers around something you would like to have your students do. Note: you are creating the actual document that students will use as they complete the project. As you create a sample movie over the next couple of weeks, you will figure out what changes you need to make to your student project guide. At this point, make sure your project guide is a minimum of 2 pages.
Part 2 Sample Movie Storyboard In addition to posting a student project guide on your wiki, you must organize a sample project storyboard and begin collecting images online and/or capturing video using a digital video camera. The storyboard you create for next week should be at least 1 page in length. (Generally storyboard pages have at least 9 frames, like this)
Session 7: 3/2/09 This week on Elluminate:
Session 6: 2/23/09 This week on Elluminate:
Session 5: 2/16/09 This week on Eluminate:
Session 4: 2/9/09 This week on Elluminate:
Session 3: 2/2/09 This week on Eluminate:
Session 2: 1/26/09
This week on Elluminate:
Session 1: 1/19/09
Out of Class Work: Prior to the first session participants will sign up for and create a free account
On Skype: